Maryland Gov. Wes Moore to sign ‘historic’ executive order on marijuana-related convictions

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore will sign an executive order regarding cannabis-related convictions Monday morning.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, University of Baltimore School of Law Center for Criminal Justice Reform Executive Director Heather Warnken, and Jason Ortiz, director of strategic initiatives with the Last Prisoner Project, will also speak at the event, according to the governor’s office.

Moore will issue pardons for 175,000 marijuana convictions Monday, according to The Washington Post.

Marylanders voted to approve a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational cannabis in November 2022, and Moore signed a law in May 2023 to create and regulate the state’s industry.

The pardons will forgive possession charges for an estimated 100,000 people, according to The Washington Post.

“I’m ecstatic that we have a real opportunity with what I’m signing to right a lot of historical wrongs,” Moore said in an interview with The Post. “If you want to be able to create inclusive economic growth, it means you have to start removing these barriers that continue to disproportionately sit on communities of color.”

Maryland officials said the pardon will not result in releasing anyone from incarceration because none are imprisoned, according to The Post. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, Maryland still incarcerates the highest percentage of Black people in the country at 71% of the prison population, more than twice the national average. Maryland also leads the nation in sentencing young Black men to the longest prison terms, at a rate 25% higher than the second highest rate, in Mississippi.

Moore campaigned on implementing a recreational cannabis industry with a focus on equity in 2022. In Maryland, people incarcerated for cannabis possession can apply for resentencing hearings, and the first round of licenses for new recreational cannabis stores went to business owners who lived or attended school in areas of disproportionally impacted by cannabis criminalization. Additionally, people convicted of possession with the intent to distribute cannabis can file to have their records expunged three years after they have completed their sentence, including parole, probation, or mandatory supervision.

“The criminalization of marijuana harmed low-income communities and communities of color and in a profound way,” Moore said in May 2023. “We want to make sure that the legalization of marijuana lifts those communities now in a profound way.”

According to the state department of public safety and correctional services, a pardon does not expunge a person’s criminal record, and the power to expunge a record may only be exercised by the courts. Criminal records have been used to deny housing, employment and education, holding people and their families back long after their sentences have been served, according to The Post.

In December, President Joe Biden pardoned thousands of people who were convicted of use and possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia, according to The Associated Press. Last month at a campaign speech in Philadelphia alongside Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Moore, Biden touted that accomplishment in a pitch to black voters.

In March, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy said she would pardon tens of thousands of people convicted of misdemeanor marijuana charges, joining Rhode Island, Connecticut Missouri and Oregon in forgiving low-level marijuana offenses, according to AP.

This story will be updated.